Hot Garlic Fried Chicken *Video Recipe*

March 16, 2017

The hot garlic fried chicken is my take on the Chinese-Korean fusion of Kkanpunggi! This hot and crispy chicken will drive you nuts with that spicy sauce glazed on top!

I had never tried a Korean recipe before at home. Indo-Chinese fusion recipes are quite common here but Korean is a completely new ally! Now after trying this hot garlic fried chicken, I can’t thank myself enough for starting my journey along this path. I chanced upon this recipe on a very popular YouTube channel named Maangchi and immediately got hooked to it. The recipe of this hot garlic fried chicken may seem a bit elaborate initially but trust me it’s all worth the effort!

You may already have tried uncountable versions of fried chicken and I am sure all has their own characteristic. This hot garlic fried chicken too has a distinct trait, which I will explain shortly to the best of my ability. But no matter how many different varieties of fried chicken you have tasted till date, you still need to bring this one into your life if you haven’t already! This is a great munch-on snack for the game day or actually any day as a matter of fact!

Crispy fried chicken is an addictive item and I am sure you all will agree with me. I have couple of fried chicken recipes here like the buttermilk fried chicken or the oven fried chicken drumsticks and they all are our bestsellers! Today I can vouch for this hot garlic fried chicken that this is gonna take over all its other counterparts and climb to the top pretty soon. These are quick bites unlike the big bone-in pieces of chicken fry and that’s the very reason that you can make them in a jiffy and enjoy with your friends & family whenever you crave for fried chicken.

Coming to the specialty of this hot garlic fried chicken, it is the crispy fried leek juliennes and sliced garlic chips sprinkled on top at the very end which take this dish to a whole new level of yumness! You must not omit or replace leeks with anything else in this recipe and you obviously can’t replace garlic from garlic fried chicken, can you! Take your time to cut the leeks into thin long strips if you are not a pro in cutting juliennes. They really add a lot to the final product and I strongly believe this hot garlic fried chicken is incomplete with those crispy leeks!

There are few recipes without which our recipe repertoire can ever be complete. A fail-proof recipe of chicken fry is a must for all chicken lovers. If you are intimidated with all the brining process for large bone-in pieces of chicken fry and worried if they would come out as crispy as well as juicy as your favorite chicken-fry joint, then I suggest you start out by trying the quick bite chicken fry recipes like this hot garlic fried chicken. This is totally guaranteed to come out super crispy every time.

Since the chicken pieces are quite small in such recipes and then coated with stuffs which turn crispy upon frying, there is no chance of soggy chicken in this case. As mentioned in the recipe below, be generous with the corn flour (a.k.a. cornstarch) as that’s the primary factor for crispiness. And go crazy with your hands while coating the chicken with all the marinating ingredients. That will help the flavors penetrate maximum into the chicken. One more thing before singing off – if available use chicken thigh meat and not the chicken breast. Breast meat is totally fatless which is why hardly any flavor could penetrate into it. Try chicken thighs and see the difference for yourself; I am sure you will thank me for this!

Cut the boneless & skinless chicken thighs into small pieces. Take the chicken into a bowl and add soy sauce, ginger paste and black pepper. Mix them well and let it chill for 15 minutes.

Heat ⅓ cup of vegetable oil in a skillet.

Add the leek juliennes and sliced garlic. Saute them until they turn golden brown and soft. Take them out leaving the oil in the skillet and set aside in a bowl.

Now add the red chili flakes to the same oil and saute on low heat for about 5 minutes or until the oil turns deep red and get infused with all the spiciness from the chili.

Strain the oil into a bowl and discard the chili flakes. Set the oil aside.

In a bowl mix all the items listed under ‘Sauce’ – light soy sauce, water, vinegar, brown sugar and corn flour. Give it a good mix and set aside.

Take the marinated chicken out from the refrigerator and add 2 egg whites and about ¾ cups of corn flour. It may seem a lot but trust me that’s where all the crispiness comes from! So be generous!

Mix the chicken well preferably with hand so that each piece is coated generously with the egg white and corn flour.

Heat enough vegetable oil for deep frying the chicken pieces. Fry the chicken pieces in batches so that they do not cling to each other and become crispy and light golden. Take them out.

Once all the chicken pieces are fried, re-fry them again in batches until nice golden brown and super crispy. Take them out and set aside.

In another skillet, heat the chili oil prepared earlier. Add chopped onion, dried red chilies and sliced fresh green and red chilies. Saute them on low heat until golden brown for about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the prepared sauce mixture and cook it stirring continuously until it thickens. If it seems to be too dry and not enough to coat all the chicken pieces, feel free to add couple of tablespoons of water and mix well.

Now add the fried chicken pieces and toss them well with the sauce so that each piece is coated nicely with the hot and sweet sauce.

Finally sprinkle the fried leek and garlic, reserving some for garnish. Drizzle the sesame oil for extra flavor and give a final good mix.